"Mytho, let's play!" Little Rue tugged on the hem of his shirt.
"Okay." The slim young man let her pull him to the edge of the town square. Dandelions were sprouting between the cracks in the cobblestone street, and Rue knelt to uproot a handful.
"I'll be the Dandelion Princess." Rue twisted the dandelion stems together clumsily. "I have the power to make dandelions grow!"
"Okay." Mytho watched her struggle to tie the stems together.
"There!" Rue carefully slipped the clumsy circle of dandelions onto her tiny wrist. "This is my magic bracelet. Isn't it pretty?" She held up her small hand to show him.
"I guess."
"Now you can be the Dandelion Prince!" Rue took the last dandelion, and Mytho knelt. Rue carefully tucked it into his shirt pocket. "You can make dandelions grow too. And now we rule over the dandelions!" She crouched in front of the few remaining yellow flowers. "This is our kingdom. What do you think?"
"It's alright."
"There are lots and lots of tiny people living here." Rue began to hum as she gathered up pebbles and made them into a tiny circle near the dandelions. "This is their town."
When she was finished prodding the pebbles into place, she stood and straightened her black dress. "Now we can start ruling!" She tucked away a stray lock of hair that dangled in front of her eyes.
"Dandelion Prince, don't you think these people are lazy?" She asked Mytho, trying to make herself sound older and important.
"I guess."
"They don't do anything but sit around all day! We do all the work ourselves." Rue scowled at the makeshift kingdom. "We must punish them!"
"Punish them?"
"Yes. They need to do more than sit." Rue knelt and took away a pebble from the pretend town. "We'll take away one of their houses." She stood back up. "Now, Dandelion People, you can have your house back, but only if you promise to not be lazy anymore!"
"What are you doing?" A young boy's voice asked.
Rue jumped and turned around. "Don't do that! You scared me!"
"Are you pretending to be a princess again?" The boy scoffed and pushed away his dark hair from his eyes. "If you're the Dandelion Princess, why are you wearing a black dress?"
"Because Papa tells me to!"
"Your papa is a weird man. Come on, Mytho, let's go." The boy reached for Mytho's wrist.
"No, Fakir, stop!" Rue jumped in front of Fakir and held her arms out. "We were playing!"
"No you weren't. You were just trying to make him be a Dandelion Prince. What kind of game is that?"
"It's OUR game! Now go away!"
"No! Mytho can't even play! He doesn't even feel anything!"
"I don't care!" In desperation, Rue knelt to pick another dandelion. "Here! You can be the Dandelion Knight!"
Fakir glared at her. "Why would I want to be a Dandelion anything?"
"Don't you always say you're Mytho's knight?" Rue asked, holding out the dandelion. "You can be his Dandelion Knight."
Fakir hesitated. "And listen to you, Dandelion Princess?" But he took the dandelion carefully.
"Not if you don't want to. Just don't take Mytho away yet!" Rue smoothed her dress again. "Okay. Now, Dandelion Knight?"
Fakir held the dandelion awkwardly. "Uh… yeah?"
"Those Dandelion People are being very lazy! They don't do any work. Can you make them be busy?"
"Sure." Fakir went to the town and knelt down. "Uh… You have to start working, or else I'll come in there and swing my sword and be scary!"
Rue giggled. "Good work, Dandelion Knight! The people are being busy now." She knelt next to Fakir and replaced the pebble. "Good Dandelion People. Here's your house back." She looked at Mytho. "Look, Dandelion Prince. The people are working again!"
"That's good."
"Now, Dandelion Knight, we need to figure out why the people were being lazy."
"Okay. How?"
"I think part of the laziness was just them being lazy, but they wouldn't even leave their houses! Maybe there's more to it."
"I think maybe you're right."
Rue bent close to the town. "Listen! Can you hear what the people are saying?"
Fakir leaned close with her. "What are they saying?"
"I think they're saying that there was a scary monster, and that's why they weren't working!"
"That's not good. What do we do, Dandelion Princess?"
"What do you think we should do, Dandelion Knight?" Rue asked, sitting up.
"I think we should…" Fakir hopped up and gestured with an imaginary sword. "Defeat the monster!"
"Yes!" Rue clapped her hands. "Be careful, Dandelion Knight. The people say the monster's very big and scary!"
"I'm not afraid!" Fakir dashed to the other edge of the town square. "I can see the monster right now! I can defeat him! I'll protect you all!"
"Be careful!" Rue called.
Fakir slashed the empty air with his imaginary sword, slicing and jumping and dashing. "Is he almost done for, Dandelion Princess?!"
"I think so, Dandelion Knight! But watch out – he looks even scarier than before!"
"Really? What does he look like?!"
"He has big black feathers, and a really sharp beak, and claws!"
Fakir's eyes widened. "W-What?!"
"And he has glowing red eyes!" Rue formed a diamond shape with her hands. "Like this!"
Fakir stepped back uncertainly. He looked pale.
"Watch out, Dandelion Knight!" Rue yelled. "He's coming for you! He'll cut you in two with his claws!"
Fakir screamed and ducked away. "No – STOP!" He fell to his knees, breathing hard.
Rue began to laugh. She bent double at her waist, clutching her stomach. "Fakir, your scream sounds funny!" She shook with the force of her giggles.
Fakir slowly got to his feet. His pants were covered in dust from the cobblestone ground.
"Good job, Dandelion Knight!" Rue clapped. "Your yell scared him away!"
"Why would you laugh at me?!" Fakir shouted, turning on her.
Rue halted a few feet away from him. "What do you mean? Aren't we having fun?" She held out a palmful of dandelion fluff. "The Dandelion People thank you for – "
Fakir knocked her hands away.
"Why would you even joke about something like that?! People getting clawed in half is not funny!"
"It's just a game, Fakir!" Rue protested. "Don't be mad with me. I didn't mean it."
He stared at her for a long moment, as if making a decision. Then he spoke. "Some game this is, where people get clawed in half and you take the villagers' houses away for 'being lazy.'" His voice grew louder. "What's wrong with you?!" The paleness didn't leave his face.
Rue's face crinkled and tears came to her eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to upset you."
"Too bad." Fakir threw down his dandelion. Rue's tears spilled over at the sight of it hitting the dusty ground. "Let's go, Mytho!" He grabbed Mytho's hand and pulled him away.
"No! Prince, Knight – please don't leave me!" Rue sobbed.
But Fakir didn't look back, and he and Mytho left without another word.
Rue remained kneeling on the ground, crying, twisting her dandelion bracelet. After a moment, she reached for Fakir's dandelion. It slowly came apart in bits of pale fluff, but she couldn't bring herself to release it. She held it to her, weeping, and did not get up for a long time.
"You can be the Dandelion Knight!"
Rue stared out at the dozens of vivid dandelions that covered the palace's lawn. They swayed gently with the grass in the early evening breeze. The warm air caught her hair and swept it about her face.
Gently, she reached down and picked one with hands more graceful and slender than those that had picked a similar dandelion so many years ago. She gazed at it for a long time, her expression unfathomable.
"Is something wrong, my Princess?" Mytho asked, joining her.
Rue's stoic eyes turned from the dandelion to her husband. After a moment, she slowly shook her head and brushed her hair back over her shoulders.
"No. Nothing at all."
Mytho smiled at her. "Martha says that supper is about ready. Shall we go eat?"
Rue nodded, and Mytho departed back inside. She made to follow him, then paused. She turned one more time to gaze at the dandelions that glowed in the late afternoon sun. A small sigh escaped her, and she blinked away the vision of a time long past.
She let the dandelion fall gently from her fingertips.